Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is listed as a board member and governor of a foundation that supports defunding the police.
Fox News reported that state filings show Abrams serves in those positions at the Seattle-based Marguerite Casey Foundation.
On March 10, the foundation tweeted a story from The Washington Post showing the outlet “collected data on nearly 40,000 payments at 25 of the nation’s largest police and sheriff’s departments within the past decade, documenting more than $3.2 billion spent to settle claims [of wrongdoing].”
The foundation added, “[Defund the Police].”
“The Post collected data on nearly 40,000 payments at 25 of the nation’s largest police and sheriff’s departments within the past decade, documenting more than $3.2 billion spent to settle claims [of wrongdoing].” #DefundthePolice https://t.co/fm1UMmcbm3
— Marguerite Casey Foundation (@CaseyGrants) March 11, 2022
Earlier in March, the foundation tweeted, “Grant recipient [Dream Defenders] + Partners launched the Doctors Within Borders Urgent Care Clinic as part of a larger movement to create direct services and sites of intervention in police violence and prison systems.”
It continued, “[Defund the Police].”
Grant recipient @DreamDefenders + partners launched the Doctors Within Borders Urgent Care Clinic as part of a larger movement to create direct services and sites of intervention in police violence and prison systems. #DefundthePolice https://t.co/XTMhMEixev
— Marguerite Casey Foundation (@CaseyGrants) March 3, 2022
Additionally, earlier this year, the foundation shared a story titled, “Cop City and the Prison Industrial Complex in Atlanta.”
The foundation then tweeted, “[Abolish the Police].”
"The Cop City story…offers a window into how the actors that make up the PIC—corporations, governments, media, police, and others—work in deadly harmony to suppress political dissent, subvert democratic engagement, and protect profits.” #AbolishthePolice https://t.co/jObxbG8TDb
— Marguerite Casey Foundation (@CaseyGrants) February 11, 2022
According to the foundation’s website, it was founded in 2001 as a “private, independent grant-making foundation dedicated to helping low-income families strengthen their voice and mobilize their communities.”
It “works to change and inform the advancement of social and economic policies and practices that promote the development of strong families and strong communities; encourage the development of a coherent knowledge base for advocates, families and the organizations that serve them; and invest in system change and cross-system change to generate greater knowledge and provide effective working models for practice.”
During an interview with ABC News in June 2020, Abrams commented on the debate surrounding the idea of defunding the police.
“We have to have a transformation of how we view the role of law enforcement, how we view the construct of public safety, and how we invest not only in the work that we need them to do to protect us but the work that we need to do to protect and build our communities,” Abrams said.
She added, “And that’s the conversation we’re having: We’ll use different language to describe it, but fundamentally we must have reformation and transformation.”
Abrams suggested the defunding the police debate has created a “false choice idea.”
